BY MELISSA RUGGIERI
LOS ANGELES -- Taylor Swift already has earned countless accolades in her decadelong career.
Now, at the age of 25, she has added yet another distinction — she’s the youngest artist to have an exhibit in the main gallery of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. And her youthful appeal is attracting a new generation of museumgoers.
“We’re seeing lots of moms and daughters, aunts and their nieces,” said Nwaka Onwusa, associate curator of the Grammy Museum. “We recently had a troop of 300 Girl Scouts come out to see it.”
“The Taylor Swift Experience,” which runs through May 10, documents Swift’s extraordinary rise from a curly-tressed country strummer (home videos of Swift playing music as a child are especially noteworthy) to a pop superstar.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Onwusa made several trips to Nashville to tour the Swift archives, which are kept in a hangar, and worked closely with Swift’s family to procure items such as childhood photos.
The main focal point is the “impact wall,” a massive display of glossy laminates of Swift’s appearances on magazine covers from around the world.
The collection of 85-90 pieces in “The Taylor Swift Experience” includes Swift’s midnight blue Kaufman Franco dress from her 2010 appearance on the Grammy show; a display case of outfits usually worn while out bopping around town; the pom-poms from her chipper “Shake It Off” video; and handwritten lyrics to “22” and “White Horse.”
Here’s a fun fact for trivia buffs: Swift’s handwritten lyrics for the song “Tim McGraw” and a pair of her cowboy boots were the first artifacts given to the Grammy Museum when it opened in 2008.
“It’s an education on a whole different level,” Onwusa said. “For the girl who is already a crazy Taylor fan, to see her own writings is really inspirational.”
Swift fans also can enter the adjoining Clive Davis Theater, where a 25-minute video overview of her career plays in grand celebration.
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Credit: Melissa Ruggieri
Those who prefer to engage more physically with Swift’s songs can groove on the colored dance floor to “Shake it Off” or hole up in a booth to shout out their angst along with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”
Grammy Museum
"The Taylor Swift Experience." Through May 10.
Open 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. $12.95 (discounts available for seniors, college students, military personnel and children ages 6-17). Grammy Museum, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. 1-888-929-7849, grammymuseum.org.
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